HALDIMAND—Who you vote for matters. Sometimes though, it can also matter where you are voting.
Haldimand County has seven people composing the council – a mayor and one councillor for each of the six wards.
Watson & Associates Economists Ltd. has been leading a ward boundary review and public consultation activities since early 2024, having been tasked by Haldimand County to advise on the best ward formation to represent local residents.
At community engagement activities in spring 2024, Watson & Associates evaluated public input and data collected to develop options for Haldimand’s ward boundary structure and council composition.
Haldimand County Municipal Clerk Chad Curtis told The Haldimand Press that “overall, the responses we have received from the public are positive.”
“At our public information sessions, we had a significant turnout of residents who provided valuable input to the process,” said Curtis. “In addition, we posted a survey to our website that generated significant public interest. We are looking forward to receiving more input from the community at the October 2 and October 3 Public Information Sessions.”
“Specifically, a main theme from residents is in regards to areas that are either over represented or under represented,” he noted.
Curtis said that to “achieve a more equitable distribution of population across the wards, some of the boundaries will likely have to be moved, but remember that population parity for the 2026 municipal election is only one of four principles being applied to evaluate the present and alternative wards to help achieve effective representation.”
The four principles are representation by population, population and growth trends, geographic representation, and communities of interest. All four of those principles come together to ensure effective voter representation.
Of Haldimand’s six wards, Ward 3 has more than 25% of the optimum average population while Ward 5 is under the average by over 25%. This has been the case going back to at least 2011.
“There were inherent imbalances because the wards appear to have been based on the wards that were in existence during the period of regional government that were simply re-assembled into the present wards,” said Curtis. “In other words, no new lines were drawn to address the population distribution at amalgamation and the wards were largely aimed at providing representation to identifiable ‘communities of interest.’ There is no record that research on future population trends was undertaken, but there is no dispute that growth patterns have contributed to the present imbalance.”
He further noted “possible alternative ward boundary designs, that address the four guiding principles, will be available to the public to view” at the upcoming open houses.
Members of the public are encouraged to attend an in-person or virtual open house to learn more and provide input:
• In-Person Open House #2: October 2, 2024 from 1-3 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at the Haldimand County Administration Building, 53 Thorburn St. S., Cayuga.
• Virtual Open House #2: October 3, 2024 at 2 p.m. via Zoom.
A recording and a copy of the presentation will be available shortly after the session.
An online survey will also be made available on the project webpage and advertised closer to the open house dates. To learn more about the Ward Boundary Review project, visit
haldimandcounty.ca/wardboundaryreview.
